Heðin Mortensen (born April 7, 1946) is a
Faroese politician member of the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
. He is the current mayor of the
Municipality of Tórshavn since 1 January 2021. He was also mayor from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2016.
Mortensen was born in
Trongisvágur
Trongisvágur ( da, Trangisvåg) is a village on the island of Suduroy in the Faroe Islands.
Trongisvágur is the village in the bottom of Trongisvágsfjørður (fjord) on the east coast of Suduroy. Trongisvágur and the neighbouring villages ...
. He worked as a mechanic from 1961 to 1978, when he became an insurance agent for
The Faroe Insurance Company The Faroe Insurance Company ( fo, Tryggingarfelagið Føroyar, TF), often referred to as Tryggingin, is an insurance company in the Faroe Islands. The company currently employs about 110 people and is headquartered in Tórshavn. The Faroe Insurance ...
( fo, Tryggingarfelagið Føroyar). He headed the
Tórshavn Rowing Club from 1973 to 1979, the Tórshavn Athletics Association ( fo, Tórshavnar Ítróttarráð) from 1975 to 1978, and the Faroese Athletics Association ( fo, Ítróttasamband Føroya) from 1980 to 2000. He was also the chair of the
Tórshavn Theater Society from 1996 to 2003. He has been a supervisory board member of the power company
SEV since 1973 and was its director from 1993 to 1997.
In politics, Mortensen became a member of the Tórshavn municipal council in 1973. He served as deputy mayor from 2001 to 2005 before becoming mayor. He was a member of the
Union Party from 1988 to 2004. As a member of the Union Party, Mortensen was also active in politics at the national level. He intermittently participated in the
Faroese Parliament
Faroese ( ) or Faroish ( ) may refer to anything pertaining to the Faroe Islands, e.g.:
*the Faroese language
* the Faroese people
Faroese people or Faroe Islanders ( fo, føroyingar; da, færinger) are a North Germanic peoples, North Germanic ...
as a deputy representative from 1989 to 1991 and in 1993. He later served in the Faroese Parliament as a representative from the South
Streymoy ( fo, Suðurstreymoy) district from 1998 to 2004. He became a deputy representative again in 2008, but this time for the Social Democratic Party. In 2015 he was elected to the Faroese Parliament as a member of the Social Democratic Party.
Mortensen has received numerous Nordic honors for his involvement in sports. He was named a knight of the
Order of the Dannebrog in 1991, and a knight 1st class of the same order in 2003.
Mortensen is a supporter of
whaling in the Faroe Islands
Whaling in the Faroe Islands, or (from the Faroese terms , meaning pilot whale, and , meaning killing), is a type of drive hunting that involves herding various species of whales and dolphins, but primarily pilot whales, into shallow bays ...
.
[Joensen, Jóan Pauli. 2009. ''Pilot Whaling in the Faroe Islands: History, Ethnography, Symbol''. Tórshavn: Fróðskapur / Faroe University Press, p. 14.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortensen, Hedin
Living people
1946 births
Mayors of Tórshavn
Members of the Løgting
People from Trongisvágur